I was about to give up on thrash metal. After Metallica's debut album and the various Anthrax albums I liked there was nothing that I really enjoyed. I went through the early 80s and 90s releases of Slayer, Megadeath, Overkill, Testament, Exodus, Sodom and also Kreator. And while I can enjoy the music itself with all those bands, the style of "singing" is what makes it difficult for me. As gruff voices and shouting are a distinguishing feature in thrash metal this is not surprising and I was about to accept that thrash is just not for me.
A friend of mine sent me the link to the Kreator documentary "Thrash, Altenessen" from 1989 and after watching this I decided to give Kreator definitely a place in my blog. Fully prepared to write about them without enjoying the music.
The documentary paints a picture of how live was like for the youth of 1989 in the Ruhr area. Clearly a tainted picture as it paints live a little more desolate than it probably felt at that time. Nevertheless I felt very nostalgic while watching it and it is worth taking the time. Make sure to watch the iconic intro part at least when the newscaster is clearly struggling with the content of the documentary. "Hier können sie ungestört ihre Thrash-Musik machen".
Kreator was formed in 1982 in Essen under the name of Metal Militia and then Tormentor by vocalist/guitarist Mille Petrozza, drummer Jürgen "Ventor" Reil and bassist Rob Fioretti. In 1984 the band changed the name to Kreator. All in all the band has released 14 studio albums to this day and their new album Hate über Alles is supposed to be released in June 2022. With record sales of over 2 million Kreator are among the best-selling teutonic thrash metal bands and together with Sodom, Destruction and Tankard they are part of "The big four of teutonic thrash metal".
In the 1980s Kreator released four studio albums which were all critically acclaimed and defining for the thrash metal genre. Like most thrash metal bands Kreator suffered commercially in the 90s and they took this chance to experiment with their musical style, exploring groove metal, industrial metal and gothic metal. They found some new fans and lost some of their old fans during this time. With their new lead guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö a more melodic element joined the band. While the band returned to their thrash metal roots with their tenth studio album Violent Revoltion in 2001 the sound now incorporated a more anthemic vibe.
By recommendation I started listening to Gods of Violence, Kreators 14th studio album, released in 2017 and I was immediately able to connect to this sound. While I had problems with Petrozza's vocals on the early 80s pure thrash records, Petrozza is doing something very different on this album. The lyrics are still mostly politcal but the songs are no longer pure thrash metal. The speed of thrash metal is here mixed with anthemic power-metal elements, super catchy riffs, epic choruses and bombastic lead guitar solos. All those elements are appealing to my ears and I put many individual songs on my Spotify playlist for you. The album in its entirety is great though and I will add it to my list of favourite albums.
A highlight on this album for me is the last song Death Becomes My Light which is very melodic and fluid and almost sounds like Iron Maiden in some parts. The middle of the song features and incredible guitar solo, perfectly framed by the mad drumming skills of Jürgen Reil. I've been listening to this songs so often by now and it gets better every time.
Satan is Real, Totalitarian Terror, Gods of Violence, Hail to the Hordes are all great songs and it is hard to pick a favourite. Satan is Real should probably receive special mention though as it is super catchy due to it's insane riff and chorus parts. Once heard, it sticks for a while.
There'll come a day
A brand new sun
Brighter than the one that we have seen
Embracing him the bringer of sin
Gods of Violence reached number one on the German charts and I can totally understand why. It is to be said though that many die-hard thrash metal fans and critics feel that Kreator is at their best when they refrain from melodic singing and experimental musical elements and return to their root - pretty fast, aggressive and straightforward thrash. Make sure to listen to this album, it is really worth your time.